DRLski

I got myself fitted to my bike and they ended up putting my saddle back all the way which is a pain because the bolt portion of the seatpost will actually rub against my thighs when I'm pedalling hard. It's a seatpost with a 20mm setback and it's as far back as it can go. Since he's donet his much of my pain in my knees have gone away that I had. However Im' assuming that this isn't very normal to have the saddle back this far? What would cause this? too small a bike or too large a bike? I'm 5'7" and have an Orbea compact frame bike, it's a 50cm bike with a 54cm virtual top tube. Suggestions?

hmai18

EDIT: woops...should have read more carefully first.

TexasGuy

Either a) get the seat adjusted or find a way to get the bolt smoothed/ground down. I had a similar problem with an earlier bike and I didn't notice it for 6 months. Needless to say I chafed the area very badly and wrecked a good deal of pants before noticing it. I found a person who had a grinder and I had him grind the metal that was protruding out. Worked like a charm for me.

TexasGuy

heh.

telenick

Orbea's have the characteristic of shorter top tubes and longer head tubes. They work well with riders who have long legs and short torsos.

yes, your bike's top tube and probably the seat tube are too short. You might try to find a saddle with longer rails if you want to stick with the frame.

Did you pay for that fit? If it was a paid service, then I'm surprised that they didn't consult with you on your bike's size.

Question: Did you buy that bike and say to yourself?... "Self, this bike feels good."

If that was the reason you went without a professional fit session before the purchase, then you have experienced the very reason that purchasing a fit before you throw down is often worth the price of two bikes, one fit session and the time it took to get it right.

DRLski

It's a 20mm setback seatpost. The regular straight seatpost wouldn't let the saddle go far enough back. Is this a bike fit problem though or just because my torso is long? or what?

DRLski

No, it wasn't paid, was just a friend from the bike shop.

The top tube it long enough all ready, in fact Im' slightly stretched out on it. I didn't think the seat tube made a difference when choosing a bike though? especially when it came to compact frames, I thought the only thing that really mattered was the size of the top tube?

telenick

Or b) sell the frame and get one that fits.

cydewaze

Sounds like you need a bike with a slacker seat tube angle. Do you have really long legs relative to your torso length?

I had a friend once who had really long legs, and his thigh length was unusually long as compared with his lower leg length. He could never get a proper fit on a bike, and finally ended up going with a custom.

DRLski

I have no idea, I always thought I had short legs relative to my torso length, when I get some money up I guess I'll have to go for a professional bike fit.

telenick

How can you say the top tube is long enough? You have a set back seat post and your saddle is already slid back as far as it can go.

Question: Did your friend plumb a line from your knee cap to the pedal spindle? Is that why the saddle is slid back all the way?

How long is your stem? Give the virtual length (horizontal.)

How much seat post is showing above the seat tube collar?

How much drop (vertical) do you have from the top of the saddle to the top of the bars?

If that top tube length is correct, then you have very long femurs by proportion to justify the set back seat post and the saddle back all the way on the rails.

If that is the case ...then:

A taller seat tube would make for more horizontal distance between the seat tube collar and the bottom bracket. Do you follow me?

bing181

I'm sure someone with a bit more knowledge than me will chip in, but I've been round the block a few times with this myself so ...

Setback is not so much to do with frame size as frame geometry. If you have the right sized bike (and all that that entails), you could need a large setback if a) the angle of the seat tube is on the steep side (which puts you further forward) or b) your thighs are on the long side (which means that you need a decent setback to get a KOP position .. which is another discussion). On the other hand, if your frame was too small, your LBS might be trying to compensate by pushing the seat up and back .. it's easier than fitting a longer stem .. or getting a bigger frame (or a frame with a different geometry).

I'd sniff around a bit more to try and find out exactly what's going on with your position/frame, to get a clearer idea as to what's going on.

and .. what Telenick said.

B

bing181

Adjusting seat setback is not the way to solve problems with a short/long top tube .. you do that by adjusting the stem length. Setback is all about legs/knees, and is related also to seat height ... but not torso.

telenick

Yep.

Curious that he considers his legs to be short in proportion to his torso. If that's true, then the seat back is done for torso length and not fib/tib/femur length.

DRLski

k, I bought the frame after I had a 52cm Cannondale that I bought from my LBS and after using those measurements I went with a slightly longer top tube on this bike, the cannondale had a 53.5 and this has a 54cm virtual(horizontal) top tube. Before I went with the setback seatpost I had a straight seatpost and I felt plenty stretched out, etc...with a 100mm stem. My coach is the friend that I'm talking about, he used a string for a line from my knee cap to the pedal and told me a need a setback seatpost so I could go further back on the saddle. I did this and once he put my saddle back he said that it then lined up correctly which is when I felt much much better in the knees especially on hills however I now feel a little too stretched out.

Yes I follow you, my 52cm cannondale had a seat tube of 52cm c-t and my orbea has a seattube of 50cm c-t. so perhaps the seattube is part of the problem. Does this help clear things up at all?

thx for all the help,
Dave

telenick

I don't know if I'm much help DRLski.

Got any pics of you on your bike and pics of how the bike is currently set up?

DRLski

I'll see if I can get one tonight

thx,
Dave

phinney

IMHO the only variables for seat setback should be seat tube angle and the geometry of the specific saddle.

That your knees stopped hurting is a good sign. Maybe you're sitting on the wrong part of the seat, have the seat sloped forward, or need to try a different seat.

DRLski

Here's the pics that I promised, as you can see I'm pretty stretched out however my knee lines up with the pedal axle.

cydewaze

Wow, it looks like you have loooong thigh bones as compared to your tibia. It would probably be worth it to you to get a professional fitting done.

Nice bike btw.

Tree

It looks to me like you feel stretched out because your position is causing you to reach for the bars. You need to try to rotate your hips foward to get your back flat. If you can't do that without getting perineum pressure you'll to adjust your saddle or the saddle could be wrong for you.

That bike maybe a little small also. I can't tell for sure though.

Get those hips rotated forward, flaten the back some and I think you'll have a much better idea of what further adsjustments you need to make.

Bob Gabele

My best guess is that you may want to go to a longer stem. I have a bunch of bikes, ranging from 52 to 56 cm's. My 52 frame (Colnago) was causing me problems as I not only had to ride with my seat all the way back but also was getting chafing issues as well. I thought about swapping out the seat but instead opted for a longer stem length. The chafing problem went away and I was less scrunched up on the bike. I was able to move my seat forward a bit too. Basically, it made my 52 cm frame, which I was about to chuck, work as well as my larger frames which, by the way, have shorter stems.

Whether this works for you or not, who knows. It's worth a try though before giving up on the Orbea, which looks like a keeper.

krazyderek

you need a bigger bike.

DRLski

I just found the following quote in Cycling Plus in a fitting article:

"Compact frames are meant to look more radical than conventional level top tube frames so expect to see an extra two or three inches of seat pin showing when compared to the older style bikes."

Does this mean that they mean for the saddle to be back more and the seat clamps to be showing like on my bike? I'm not ignoring everything you guys have been saying, I obviously have a lot to think about and have already made an appointment with my LBS to get myself sized up but was just curious.

krazyderek

no, that's reffering to how much of the seat post is exposed.